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1. Manhattan, nothing can compare to how busy this little island full of traffic wide streets, wide sidewalks completely full of pedestrians. PS i live here, when i go there the wide streets are grid locked car and person.
2. Paris, more spread out less traffic
3. Barcelona

Of the three, I've only been to Manhattan. However, compared to Paris and Barcelona (judging based on their streetviews and youtube videos), Manhattan's wide streets, wide sidewalks and grid system (and consequent numerous cross-streets) make it seem more manageable, where as Paris and Barcelona seem a bit more chaotic- for lack of a better term. Paris and Barcelona's streets are narrower and seem to not run for as long before they turn, so when they're a large amount of people walking on the streets, it can feel more "crushing" in Paris and Barcelona, and I'd venture to guess this "crush" leads to additional perceived vibrancy.

Manhattan is really vibrant and alive city.
Paris is magic.
Barcelona is very Mediterranean and street life is good.

But if now I could walk around one of them in this moment it would be Paris, maybe becase I've spend less time there and I love all those French details and the atmosphere. NY is more crowded in buildings and Barcelona is more like the things I am used to.

Of the three, I've only been to Manhattan. However, compared to Paris and Barcelona (judging based on their streetviews and youtube videos), Manhattan's wide streets, wide sidewalks and grid system (and consequent numerous cross-streets) make it seem more manageable, where as Paris and Barcelona seem a bit more chaotic- for lack of a better term. Paris and Barcelona's streets are narrower and seem to not run for as long before they turn, so when they're a large amount of people walking on the streets, it can feel more "crushing" in Paris and Barcelona, and I'd venture to guess this "crush" leads to additional perceived vibrancy.

I think this is true. Not to mention that a N-S/E-W street grid becomes very boring after a while. I think Barcelona and Paris always have you wondering "what's around the next corner" whereas Manhattan is more of the same.

Lower Manhattan is far more interesting in this respect. But it's also a lot smaller.

Barcelona and Paris also have an advantage over Manhattan in that their streets tend to be more mixed-use. Manhattan side streets tend to be strictly residential.

Hard to say. Barcelona is pretty vibrant during the summer months + the beach area is a huge plus.

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